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A driver who knocked a man off his bike and then tweeted ‘#bloodycyclists’ has complained that she was cyber-bullied following the post.

Appearing on ITV’s Daybreak, Emma Way claimed the online abuse she received was ‘quite bad’ after posting the ‘stupid’ tweet to her 200 followers.

Way, 22 , knocked Toby Hockley off his bike on May 19. However, police only became aware of the accident when she tweeted ‘definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier. I have right of way – he doesn’t even pay road tax!’ before using the hashtag #bloodycyclists.

Hockley suffered bruising and minor damage to his bike in the incident near the village of Rockland All Saints, Norfolk.

Way, who claimed she waived a fee for the TV appearance, told the show while she regretted the Twitter post she did not believe the collision was her fault.

She said: ‘I am only 22 and, not generalising about 22-years-olds or anything, but you sometimes just tweet things you don’t actually mean.

‘I was quite angry about his mannerism and… that he was on my side of the road and it seemed somehow disrespectful.’

Way was sacked from her job as a trainee accountant after the tweet came to light. Previously, she described the tweet as her ‘biggest regret’ and rated it ’11 out of 10’ on the stupidity scale.

She has since quit the social networking site.

She added: ‘I lost my job because of it. There were lots of retweets, malicious messages and cyber-bulling so it’s been quite bad.’

Way now has a new job.

Her solicitor, Simon Nicholls, said the case had been a difficult one to defend, adding: ‘It can be hard enough at the best of times but when there’s an apparent admission on the internet, you have to explain that.’

Mr Hockley also described the tweet as ‘stupid’, adding: ‘It doesn’t do much for the mutual respect we should all have for each other on the road.’

Way was fined £337 and ordered to pay another £300 in costs at Norwich Magistrates’ Court. She also had seven points added to her licence.